


Mightier Than the Waves of the Sea is Her Love For You

by ofiutt



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Cheating, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Kissing, Romance, Slow Burn, kinda? canon complaint, the yue-avatar theory, yue actually has a personality here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:15:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26250280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofiutt/pseuds/ofiutt
Summary: Princess Yue catches the eye of the last waterbender from her sister tribe. Both of them seem to be engaged, but y'know... whatever.
Relationships: Katara/Yue (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

Katara noted the gaped look Sokka made at the snowy-haired woman from the corner of her vision and rolled her eyes. How he's going to attempt to woo such a seemingly eminent figure, she found that she's rather intrigued by, in the back of her mind. Hopefully he won't get so worked up over the girl that it starts to annoy both her and the latter.

Such a thought was acknowledged when the feast thrown in celebration for their visit (as well as Princess Yue’s 16th birthday, coincidentally) arrived. “Y’know, back in my tribe, I'm kind of like a prince myself.” Katara practically snorted. “Prince of what?” Sokka glared at her. “A lot of things. Uh, do you mind? I'm trying to have a conversation here.”

Katara sneered, distantly taken aback at how affronted she felt. “My apologies, prince Sokka.” The sarcastic retort earned her another glare from her brother before he turned back to Yue, who displayed a similar amount of cringe on her face.

“So, I'm gonna be in town for a while it seems. Do you, uh, wanna do an activity together?” Katara almost spat out the seaweed soup from her bowl. He was relentless. To her prediction, however, Yue politely declined the offer with a hint of irritation (Katara caught) and shared an amused, empathetic glance with the waterbender.

-

“But she didn't love you, did she? It was an arranged marriage.” Yue twisted her face away and clenched her fists before flouncing off. Katara noted the reaction from a glance and blinked in consternation. Maybe the Princess was in a similar situation?

Her memory recalled when Chief Arnook announced Yue's sanction to marry at the night of their arrival, and how the latter refused to meet with Sokka after the feast, yet Katara supposed it might be that she just thought her brother wasn’t all that great a catch. Sokka started to run off after her before Aang seemed to convince him not to, believing that the Princess just needed some space. 

-

“The legends say the moon was the first waterbender,” Yue reflected, desolation somewhat visible on her face which was an expression that Katara had not percepted on the Princess before. “Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves.” The waterbender couldn’t seem to avert her gaze from Yue, and from the looks of it, the moonlight was captivated by her as well. “I've always noticed my waterbending is stronger at night,” Katara remarked absentmindedly.

Yue proceeded to explicate the balance between the Moon and Ocean spirits, to which Aang reacted with a bright shift of his zealousness. “The spirits!” he gasps, “maybe I can find them and get their help!” The Princess grinned at the revelation and glanced at the boy. “Of course! You’re the bridge between our world and that of the spirits. Maybe they’ll give you the wisdom to win this battle.”

“Or maybe they'll unleash a crazy amazing spirit attack on the Fire Nation!” Aang exclaimed, waving his arms around for emphasis. Both girls ignored him and turned to each other. “The only problem is, last time he got to the Spirit World by accident. How is he going to get there this time?” Yue smirked. “I have an idea. Follow me.”

The Princess led them to a small wooden door at the side of her father’s royal palace, prompting Aang to ask her if that was the way to the Spirit World. The former shot an amused look at Katara and she barked a laugh. “No. You’ll have to get there on your own,” Yue leaned forward, “but I can take you to the most spiritual place in the entire North Pole.” She opened the door and allowed the Avatar to take the first step, who reveled in the presence of such an unexpectedly missed environment. Katara reacted similarly.

Both Water Tribe citizens removed their coats, walking to the pond centered in the oasis to which the koi fish swam around in synchronisation. The girls shot a glare at Momo who attempted to grab one of the spirits before the winged lemur sheepishly began to run off.

“Why is he sitting like that?” Yue whispered, leaning in towards Katara and gesturing to the cross-legged boy. “He’s meditating. Trying to cross over into the Spirit World.” The waterbender giggled. “We could just push him into the pond right now.” Yue playfully smacked her arm, “Stop it. Unless… you’re the one to do it.”

Aang twists his head to the pair behind him. “Could you guys be more quiet? I can hear every word you’re saying!” Not too long afterwards the boy seemed to finally enter the alternate dimension, the glow of his eyes and tattoos signifying his spiritual departure. The two girls sat leaning against the wood of the large gate centered behind the body of water, knees and shoulders brushing against one another’s.

“Is he okay?” the Princess asked, concerned. “He's crossing into the Spirit World. He'll be fine as long as we don't move his body. That’s the way back to the physical world for an Avatar.” Yue nodded ploddingly, eyes closed. “I know. I was supposed to be the Avatar succeeding him.” 

Katara abruptly twists her upper body to face her. “...What?” Yue sighed and pensively looked at the boy in front of them. “Your friend met with my father and I privately after talking to Master Pakku at the feast,” her gaze remained to the direction of Aang, “he told us about the century he spent in that iceberg and we realized that if the Avatar cycle hadn’t been halted for that long, I would’ve been the next one after him.” Katara stared at her in dubiety. “But how? Why you?” 

Yue tilted her head down, eyes closed. “I was born very sick and weak. Most babies cry when they're born, but I was born with my eyes closed, as if I was asleep. Our healers revealed to my parents that I was going to die. My father begged the spirits to save me. That night, beneath the full moon, he placed me in this pond. My dark hair turned white and I began to cry, signifying that I would live.” The Princess looked up. “Because Aang still had the Avatar spirit instead of me, I needed the Moon spirit to survive.”

She turned to a stupefied Katara in cognizance. “It all makes sense now. The next element in the cycle after air is water, and that could also explain why I’m a nonbender since I didn’t have the Avatar spirit to grant such abilities.” The waterbender glanced down before looking back at Yue, brows furrowed. “That’s why your name is Yue, isn't it? After the moon?” The Princess grinned. “Heh… that’s one way to put it.” She fiddled with her betrothal necklace between two fingers.

“But I do have other ways to serve my tribe, regardless if I'm the Avatar or not. Even if it meant getting married to a boy I don't give two figs about.” Yue grinned sheepishly at Katara, to which the latter returned with a warm smile.

Katara couldn’t seem to look anywhere else besides the direction of the Princess, and she found herself to reach for the carved stone attached to her own necklace as well. “I think you already know why Master Pakku allowed me to be his pupil recently.” Yue chuckled. “Your grandmother passed it down to you as a birthday gift, didn’t she?”

The waterbender glanced at her necklace in rumination. “Well, my mother got it from her first, and then she passed it down to me. I’m just glad I didn’t retrieve it for marriage.” Her eyes grew in realization of her comment and turned her face away from Yue. “Sorry.” The Princess remained expressionless for a bit before barking a laugh. “Don’t be.” She tenderly guided Katara to face her again with the touch of her hand against her jaw. “I’m just happy that you were okay with telling me this stuff the way I did to you.”

The pair was so close to each other now, the luminescence of Aang’s eyes and tattoos reflecting onto the water as Katara turned her head towards Yue’s, whose hair brushed against her chest and-

The imminence of their shared contact was interrupted with a rope of fire being whipped between them and the Avatar, evoking Katara to stand up immediately to face their attacker. “No…” Prince Zuko sneered at the girl. “Yes,” he took a step closer, “hand him over and I won't have to hurt you.” The waterbender shoots a resolute glance at Yue before instigating a defensive stance. “Run!”

The Prince punched another blast to which Katara blocked by summoning another shield of water. She guided a powerful jet of water towards Zuko, who was pushed farther back due to the collision. As he attempted to return to a steady position, small juts of ice formed around his feet before large waves began overwhelming him with their encasement. Katara waved her arms about wildly to ensure Zuko’s lack of leeway and froze the water solid, grinning triumphantly at his imprisonment.

Zuko grimaced at her shown aptitude. “You little peasant. You’ve found a master, haven’t you?” The globule of ice began to glow with heat and the ground rumbled before the trap melted completely. He tried to wallop fireballs at Katara, who drew water from the surrounding river to deflect the strikes. She prepared to assail him with a blast of her own until Zuko slipped away and headed toward Aang.

Just as his fingers grasp his collar, Katara shoots a second strafe of water, slamming Zuko against an icy wall of the oasis. She whipped up a massive wave and pummeled the Prince with it before freezing the water, encasing him in ice.

Rays of sunlight beamed down on Zuko, who remained imprisoned in the ice. He felt the heat and exhaled steam from his nose, melting the ice quickly. He lands on the ground and shoots a fireblast at Katara, who had her back turned to him at that moment. She turned around swiftly, however, and attempted to deflect the blast by conjuring a water shield. Nonetheless, her defense arrived too late when the blast slammed her against the gate of the oasis, knocking her out. Zuko stood in front of her, holding Aang’s body by the collar.

Unconcsiousness rapidly invaded Katara’s senses after hearing some sort of declaration from the Prince, and briefly felt the gentle sweep of a pair of arms beneath her back before sleep undertook her.

-

Katara’s eyes snap open to the sight of Yue’s perturbed expression staring down at her. The waterbender immediately detached herself from the arms of the Princess and crawled about the grass, desperately searching for the boy she was supposed to be guarding. “Aang!”

She eventually looked up to see her brother riding on Appa, who questioned the events of when she was conscious. Katara averted her gaze to the ground in anguish. “Zuko took Aang. He took him right out from under me.”


	2. Chapter 2

“I can’t believe we lost him,” Katara murmured in sorrow, kneeling before the spirits where Aang had meditated. She felt a palm graze across her back and turned her head to see Yue’s solicitous face greeting her with a comforting smile. “You did everything you could,” the Princess assured her, “Zuko couldn’t have gotten far. With you by our side, I know we’ll find the Avatar.”

The affirmation elicited the waterbender to smile back at Yue (albeit Katara distantly believed Yue’s face alone would’ve uplifted her) and responded with a soft “Okay.” Soon enough the trio had mounted Appa and after a brief consolement to the winged lemur, Sokka commenced their departure with a firm “Yip yip.”

-

Aang heeded a large bison besmeared with sprinkles of snow from the corner of his eye and twisted his face to the sight of his companion. “Appa!” he exclaimed with a sanguine pitch, smiling at Katara who slid off of the bison before Zuko tossed Aang aside.

“Here for a rematch?” the Prince challenged. Katara countered his flamed strikes with snow she morphed into water from the ground. “Trust me, Zuko. It’s not going to be much of a match.” She launched Zuko into the air with a parallel wave of her arms before plummeting him back to the snowy earth, knocking him out. Katara turned her head to the direction of Yue in exultation as Sokka unties Aang, but frowned when the Princess didn’t seem to notice her victory.

A brief persuasion from Aang led Sokka to reluctantly allow the addition of an unconscious Zuko, and soon enough the group was traveling atop Appa’s back with the view of a crimson moon. The Princess grabbed the sides of her head as if she were in pain.

“Are you okay?” Katara asked, settling herself behind Yue and placing a hand on her shoulder. “I feel faint.” The latter pressed her own palm against Katara’s in emphasis of her averment. “I feel it, too. The Moon spirit is in trouble,” Aang remarked, holding the side of his head as well.

Yue and the waterbender glanced at each other in shared perturbation and Katara rested her chin on Yue’s shoulder, face halfway nuzzling the side of her neck as she grazed her palm along the arm of the Princess assuringly. Both girls overlooked the befuddled stare Sokka gaped at them with from behind.

-

Momo landed on the Avatar’s arm and ran to his shoulder. Katara and Sokka were behind him and soon enough the three of them were in defensive stances in confrontation with Admiral Zhao and his soldiers.

“Don’t bother.” Zhao lifted the sack to emphasize his threat in killing the Moon spirit to which it was trapped. Aang and the others instantly panicked; leaning forward in disheartenment. “Zhao, don’t!” The Admiral seemed completely imperturbable by the desperation of his opponents’ assertion, distantly pleased by the sheer upper hand he possessed over them at the moment.

“It’s my destiny, to destroy the moon and the Water Tribe.” Aang stepped forward. “Destroying the moon won't hurt just the Water Tribe. It will hurt everyone, including you. Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world.” Katara looked behind her to capture Yue in her exacerbated expression, the Princess clutching the stone of her betrothal necklace in equal unsettlement. “He is right Zhao.”

The voice of an elderly man echoed across the oasis as Zhao responded in a somewhat condescending tone: “General Iroh, why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?” Iroh removed his hood. “I'm no traitor, Zhao, the Fire Nation needs the moon, too; we all depend on the balance. Whatever you do to that spirit I'll unleash on you ten-fold. Let it go, now!” 

Zhao released the koi fish into the oasis, hesitating before striking the Moon spirit with a slice of fire in aggravation. The action evoked Iroh to immediately attack Zhao in flames as Aang looked up at the moon, which had soon faded out and the world seemed to go gray. Meanwhile, the Admiral dodged and countered Iroh’s firebending while retreating toward his soldiers, who were swiftly defeated before Zhao escaped. The Ocean spirit was now encircling frantically around his dead counterpart, with Aang and the others staring at the water in disbelief.

Iroh approached the spirits and cradled the dead fish in his palms. “No,” the Princess suddenly divulged, “it’s not over. I won’t let it be.” She turned to Aang and grabbed his shoulders, whose eyes instantly flashed (seemingly due to her gesture). The boy entered the water, standing in a meditative stance as the Ocean spirit circles him. Aang descended into the water as blue lightning-like energy expanded from the oasis island into the water.

The oasis began to light up in the same blue color as Katara and the others watched in pure captivation. The energy shifted to the edge of the oasis, rising up to form a giant amphibious-like creature who faced out toward the sea, with Aang in the center, seemingly controlling it.

Iroh placed the dead spirit back into the water. “It’s too late,” Katara reflected sorrowfully, “it’s dead.” The elderly man perks up in revelation and turns to Yue. “You have been touched by the Moon spirit. Some of its life is in you.”

The Princess glanced at the remaining fish in the pond. “Yes… you’re right. It gave me life, maybe I can give it back.” The very notion panged itself through Katara’s heart. She hated what she was hearing, and her rage elucidated through her pull at Yue’s arm after she gripped it.

“No!” she practically screamed, “how dare you even think about it!” The waterbender felt hot tears form in the corner of her eyes as her lips began to quiver, the tight curve of her hands grasping Yue’s upper arms as she looked at her with vexation and despondency.

“It’s my duty, Katara.” The Princess looked at her with an expression so desolate and remorseful that Katara wanted to smack the life out of it herself. “I won’t let you!” she howled, and was distantly taken aback at the audible trembling in her voice as she found herself kneeling before Yue, hands sliding from her upper arms to her fingers as she went. “I have to do this.”

Yue’s hands slipped out of Katara’s and placed them on the Moon spirit instead. The fish began to glow up and the Princess shut her eyes. A brief moment later and Katara caught Yue in the curve of her arms after she fell backwards, occasional chokes turning into repulsive sobs as her state of sullenness completely detonated the usual feminine pitch of her voice. “N-no! S-s-she’s gone, she’s g-gone…” Katara’s eyes were shut and couldn’t seem to halt the stream of salty, pathetic tears pouring from the rims of her drenched eyelashes.

She felt the weight in her hands morph into air before clutching her fists into the grass, fingernails enticing grains of soil as the curl of her fingers allure to her flesh. The waterbender could distantly hear Iroh inserting the fish back into the spirit water (over her own bawling, surprisingly) and the entire pond started to light up until she felt the energy seep into the air.

Katara opened her eyes to the sight of a transcendent Yue, who seemed rather contorted to due to her own blurry vision. “Goodbye Katara,” the Princess leaned towards her, “I will always be with you.”

The waterbender felt the contact of weightless lips settling against her quaking mouth, snot dripped from her nose to her top lip being smeared as Yue kissed her through her snivels. Katara alleviated her grip on the grass and before she knew it the Princess morphed back into daunting oblivion, the moon reappearing in the starless sky as color returned to her reality.

-

“The spirits gave me a vision when Yue was born. I saw a beautiful, brave, young woman become the Moon spirit,” Chief Arnook sighs, “I knew this day would come.” Katara looked up at him with a consoling smile. “She used to tell me how our ancestors learned to push and pull the tides after watching the moon do it.” She turned to look at the horizon in front of them, the ocean partitioning itself from the merigold tint of the sky. “I just never thought that she’d give us a demonstration of how the first waterbender does so.”

Arnook chuckled. “Yes, well… I suppose I should be proud.” Katara caught a glimpse of a tear running down his cheek at the corner of her eye before responding. “So proud… and sad.”


End file.
